Since the earthquake in Haiti two weeks ago, Common Cents has been flooded with phone calls and e-mails from concerned Penny Harvest coaches wondering how their schools can help the recovery efforts in Haiti. As Penny Harvest schools enter the second phase of the program, students have begun forming Philanthropy Roundtables at their schools. The Roundtables are a distinctive feature of the Penny Harvest which give children the power and the freedom to decide how to spend their harvest funds. A key issue for our students in the coming weeks will be exploring different ways to take action and help the people in Haiti.

Several schools have already taken initiative—one school, inspired by a third grader who emptied her piggy bank into a bag and wrote a letter to Haiti saying that she is donating money and a bag of hope, has latched on to the idea, and is running its own “Bag of Hope” campaign to collect additional funds.

Other schools are holding bake sales and doing dollar drives. Some are even harvesting pennies, and anything else people are willing to donate. The students’ overwhelming response and quick mobilization is both touching, and a testament to the power of children in service.

At PS 146, students have begun a special Penny Harvest Pennies for Haiti collection which they will use to donate to one of the relief organizations. Because they already have a Philanthropy Roundtable in place, the students are already meeting to make the hard decision of which charity to send their Pennies for Haiti collection to. The great thing about this, said Helaine Eisenberg, a teacher at PS 146, “is that we will still be able to use our full grant for local/community organizations.”

According to Program Director Adam Seidel, “Over the years, we’ve seen children act as ‘first responders’ to global disasters. Like firefighters or search and rescue teams, children mobilize, raising funds and collecting needed goods. With the earthquake in Haiti, it’s been amazing to see how the experiences of the Penny Harvest has made our student leaders a critical resource in their school as they’ve lead creative fundraisers and researched the best organizations to support. Our goal at Common Cents is to try to keep up and supply our schools with resources and curriculum around the disaster to help students better understand the needs in Haiti and to connect them to organizations participating in the relief effort.”

Click here to see the resources we are offering Penny Harvest schools.

Common Cents encourages and urges everyone to give what they can to help with the relief effort. Click here to find a listing of different organizations working to respond to the crisis.